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Producer Thomas Langmann offered a thank you “from the bottom of my heart” and tells his kids to go to bed. Uggie the dog makes his first stage appearance of the night.

Below, JeanÂ Dujardin and Uggie the dog in a scene from “The Artist.”

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11:31 p.m. —Â In a major upset, MerylÂ Streep wins Best Actress for her role in “The Iron Lady.”

It was Streep’s 17th nomination, but she hadn’t won in 29 years, since 1983’s “Sophie’s Choice.”

Viola Davis, of “The Help”, was definitely the favorite in this category. “The Iron Lady”, about Margaret Thatcher, received very mediocre reviews, and Davis has received a lot of buzz in recent years.

But Ms. Streep wins her third Academy Award, once again regaining her throne as queen of Hollywood.

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11:20 p.m. — French actor JeanÂ Dujardin wins Best Actor, adding to the momentum of “The Artist”. It appears silence will dominate the night.

Just a quick aside:Â Best Actor was the strongest category at the Academy Awards this year.

In most other years, George Clooney of “The Descendants”, Brad Pitt of “Moneyball” and Gary Oldman of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” could have been shoe-ins to win this award. They all gave career-defining performances.

But Dujardin was equally deserving and had the zeitgeist behind him. All hail “The Artist.”

“A Separation” was the best reviewed movie of the year. It’s also the first movie from Iran ever to win this award.

Asghar Farhadi, the director, gave a short but beautiful speech about how politics have clouded the beautifully rich culture of Iran and its people.

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9:02 p.m. — The Oscars just played a nice video feature, where famous actors and actresses discussed the first movies they ever saw in theaters, and what drew them to the Silver Screen.

“I could dream there, I could become anything I want, I could be part of the movie, I could be anybody, said Barbara Streisand.

Adam Sandler said the first film he ever saw was ‘Diamons are Forever”, the James Bond movie. Recalled Sandler: “I rembember thinking about Sean Connery’s performance and his chest hair and saying, “Can I please do that?”

Robert Richardson won Best Cinematography for “Hugo,” which may be a sign of things to come. “Hugo” also won for Best ArtÂ Direction, giving it the first two awards.

In truth, Chibo Lubezki deserved the cinematography award for “The Tree of Life,” which had some of the best cinematography of the past 20 years.Â But few people saw it, and Martin Scorsese has a lot of cache with Academy voters.

That being said, “Hugo” was a terrific film. Above, a scene from the movie.

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8:35 p.m. — As always with Billy Crystal, he opened the show with a video spoof of all nine Best Picture nominees, plus “Bridesmaids” and “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”.

For Hugo, a PGÂ film by Martin Scorsese, he quipped, “Are you sure this is aÂ Scorsese movie?Â No one’s been whacked yet.”

In “The Descendants” spoof, he played George Clooney’s dying wife and they shared a kiss, which drew a big applause.

8:19 p.m. — Pretty much everyone has arrived. Some more quick facts before the show begins:

â€¢ MerylÂ Streep was nominated for Best Actress for the little-watched “The Iron Lady.” It’s her 17th acting nomination, the most ever. But she hasn’t won since 1983’s “Sophie Choice.”

â€¢ This is the first time since 2001 Pixar hasn’t had a movie nominated for Best Animated Picture. It did release “Cars 2″ this year, but critics felt it was underwhelming compared to “ToyÂ Story 3″, “WALL-E”, “Up” and other recent Pixar movies.

â€¢ Legendary composer John Williams celebrated his 80thÂ birthday earlier this month in grand style — by nabbing two more Oscar nominations for “War Horse” and “Tintin.” That brings his lifetime total to 47 Oscar nominations. Even more amazing? He’s still only in second place, behind the 59 nominations earned by Walt Disney.

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8:06 p.m. — Sacha Baron Cohen showed up in full character for his upcoming film, “The Dictator.”Â He was flanked by two serious beautiful guards in red berets, and carrying the “ashes” of Noth Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Il.

â€¢ “The Artist” has a chance to become the second-ever silent movie to winÂ Best Picture.

â€¢ BillyÂ Crystal is hosting the Oscars for the 9th time. It’s been about 25 years since Crystal did his best movies (“The Princess Bride”, “When Harry Met Sally”), but we’re holding out hope he’s still got some magic up his sleeve.

â€¢ George Clooney is up for awards in two seperate categories for two different films: Best Actor for “The Descendants”, and BestÂ Adapted Screenplay for “The Ides of March.”

Clooney also accomplished this in 2005, when he won Best Supporting Actor for “Syriana” and was nominated for Best OriginalÂ Screenplay for “Good Night, and Good Luck”.

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7:42 p.m. —Â Emma Stone, of “The Help” and “Crazy,Â Stupid, Love”, has just arrived in a red Giambattista Valli dress with a giant bow on her shoulder.

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Best fantasy birthday present ever? Emma Stone in a bow.

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7:34 p.m. — One award has already been decided:Â James Cromwell, who was in “The Artist,” wins the Best Beard award.

“The Artist” is a terrific movie and up for Best Picture tonight. But if anyone has the sudden urge to catch up on worthy James Cromwell films, check out 1997’s “L.A. Confidential“. Definitely one of my favorite neo-noirs.

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7:15 p.m. — And they’re off!Â All the stars have begun arriving for the 84th annual AcademyÂ Awards, which begins tonight at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.

Maine’s very own Glenn Close showed up wearing a green Zac Posen dress.

For a great story on how local Maine designers would have dressed Ms. Close, click here. For a PPHÂ interview with the actress about her life in Maine and chances tonight, click here.

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